Vegas Golden Knights somehow made the Stanley Cup Final despite having fewer wins than six teams that missed the playoffs
RMNB • • sports
Key Points:
- The Vegas Golden Knights secured a Stanley Cup Final spot despite a mediocre regular season and firing head coach Bruce Cassidy with eight games left.
- Vegas qualified for the playoffs by winning the weak Pacific Division, despite having fewer wins than six teams that missed the postseason, including the Washington Capitals.
- The Golden Knights benefited from a high number of overtime losses, finishing with the second-most OT losses in the league, which contributed significantly to their 95 points.
- The competitiveness gap between the Eastern and Western Conferences was stark, with many Western teams having poor records yet making the playoffs, raising concerns about the fairness of the current conference-based playoff system.
- Since hiring John Tortorella, Vegas has been the NHL’s hottest team, going 7-0-1 to close the regular season and 12-4 in the playoffs, highlighting their strong postseason surge despite regular season struggles.